I never thought I would be so lucky to have such amazing friends. And not just friends. Girlfriends in particular. My guy friends are awesome, but I am surrounded by some incredibly wonderful chicas. You know who you are, but just for posterity let’s name names: Jude, Stella, Junie, Liz, Sister Cartwheel, KDawg, Trilby, Sibyl, Strawberry Shortcake…you knock my socks off.

Around middle school, I worried I would only have friends. I worried I would never have best friends. I wanted to have a kindred spirit like my sixth grade heroine, Anne Shirley. Now, all I have to do is check out the list of names above to know that my middle school wish has come true. I have the BEST friends. From sending me comics strips and shout-outs so that they arrive on the precise date that I need the most cheering up, to making me leave the dorm when I’m depressed to encouraging me to do something different, like piercing my ears, or making me mixes or forming a posse and defending my honor or finding a paper bag for me to breathe into in the middle of a panic attack at 5am. Seriously. I always know that you gals have got my back.

Last Friday, I went to see Bride Wars with some of the chicas. Not only was it a really cute movie, but it was so fun to sit in a theater with about 150 other females and laugh. One of the lines especially made me laugh. Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson stop speaking for a good deal of the movie, and at one point, Kate Hudson’s fiancé says “They haven’t spoken in a week. That’s like a century in girl years.” That is so true. I’m not sure we ever stop talking. Even when we’re silent we’re talking. Going to an all girls high school really made the difference in having such great friends and taught me a lot about being a girl. Like the fact that after spending so much time together, our cycles overlap. (Shocking, Charlie, I know.) There was a saying that cropped up at least twice in the senior yearbook quotations: “High school isn’t for finding your husband. It’s for finding your bridesmaids.” All I know is that my wedding is going to have to be HUGE because I will never be able to narrow down my bridesmaids. And before you ask, yes. You do get to pick your own dresses. That is my gift to you.

Okay, guys, Charlie, Snoopy, listen up: this part is for you. It’s true: girls have a secret language. Will we ever give you a translation guide? Are you crazy? Do pigs fly? Absolutely not. Some things must remain secret. If you ask us to translate what we just said, we’ll just exchange glances and burst out laughing. Girls have tons of inside jokes, mainly because we talk faster. You guys have the saying “bros before hos?” We’ve got the saying “chicks before dicks.” No, just kidding. We’re not bitter at all. But we have to protect our sisters first, because what happens to one sister happens to us all. Why? Because we talk. Everything about girls goes back to the fact that we talk and share pretty much everything. Girls talk. It’s what we do. That’s why we chicas need our girlfriends. To analyze every single situation. To understand the healing power of chocolate. To join in on late night Taco Bell trips. We also have got eachother backs. Like in the following video. If any guy ever leaves our chica at the altar, you can bet that we’ll be in matching bride outfits chasing you down on bicycles.

Oh, and we most definitely talk about you guys when you’re not around. We even talk about each other sometimes. It’s no joke why Benjamin Franklin said “To find out a girl’s faults, praise her to her girl friends.”Honestly, we genuinely value our friendships with you gentlemen. We do. It’s always fun when we hang out with you, and it’s great to get another perspective on life. In “Elizabethtown”, Claire makes the observation that “men see things in a box, and women see them in a round room.” It’s always nice to have that other worldview to fall back on. But life is incredibly crazy sometimes, and sometimes girls just need girl time. Besides, in Walsh, we have another, better saying, much better than “chicks before dicks”: Every night is Girl’s Night. And what happens on Girl’s Night stays on Girl’s Night. Or it lives on in inside jokes. The walls of Walsh are filled with the sweet secrets of sisterhood, and no matter what you say, we will never tell you what they are. Not even if you bribe us with chocolate.

Another saying at my high school was “if my house burned down, my friends would be roasting marshmallows and hitting on the firemen.” However, I know you ladies would also be giving me the clothes off your back and offering to find the person responsible for the blaze. So, to all my wonderful chicas, this is my love letter to you. I am incredibly lucky and so grateful to count you as my friends. I owe you a zillion peanut m&ms and about three and a half hours of straight girl talk, with some sprinkles and a chick flick thrown in for good measure. I love you!

Girl-liciously yours,

S.

P.S. So there, Snoopy. 45 minutes to spare.

P.P.S. One more thing. Last girl secret that will be disclosed for a while. Whenever there’s a problem, just dance it out. Dancing it out is another good alternative to talking.

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5 thoughts on ““I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” –Maya Angelou”

God I love you Hannah! ❤ I’m sooo lucky to have such amazing friends like you guys. Knowing us, we would chase down a guy dressed as brides on bikes, because we just rock that way! 😀 And yes, we girl talk all the time! Like Sex and the City!
*go to link!!!* 😀